In Dulci Jubilo (arr J.S. Bach) - Cantate Domino

In Dulci Jubilo

The tune first appears in Codex 1305, a manuscript in Leipzig University Library dating from c. 1400, although it has been suggested that the melody may have existed in Europe prior to this date. In print, the tune was included in Geistliche Lieder, a 1533 Lutheran hymnal by Joseph Klug. It also appears in Michael Vehe’s Gesangbuch of 1537. In 1545, another verse was added, possibly by Martin Luther. This was included in Valentin Babst’s Geistliche Lieder, printed in Leipzig. The melody was also popular elsewhere in Europe, and appears in a Swedish/Latin version in the 1582 Finnish songbook Piae Cantiones, a collection of sacred and secular medieval songs.

The tune appears in several collections by Michael Praetorius, for voices only: Musae Sionae II (1607) no. 5, a motet à 8 for double choir; Musae Sionae V (1607) nos. 80–82 (for 2, 3 or 4 voices); Musae Sionae VI (1609) nos. 28, 29, 31 resp. 32, 33 all for 4 voices; and 5 part setting from Musae Sionae VI (1597). And a vocal–instrumental version from his collection Polyhymnia Caduceatrix et Panegyrica (1618–19), No 34: a festive multi-choir version with large instrumental support including trumpets and timpani. It can be executed by 7, 12, 16 or 20 voices in 5 choirs (three vocal, one chapel- and one instrumental choir) and general bass. The Praetorius settings were widely adapted in Protestant continental Europe.

A polyphonic arrangement for 8 voices was made by Robert Lucas de Pearsall (1795–1856), this being later adapted for 4 voices, the most commonly performed version, by W. J. Westbrook (1831–1894).

There have been a number of translations of the Latin/German poem into English. The most popular that keeps the macaronic structure is R. L. de Pearsall’s 1837 translation, which retains the Latin phrases and substitutes English for German. A 2008 survey by BBC Music Magazine found this to be the second most popular choral Christmas carol with British cathedral organists and choirmasters.

Alternatively, a looser translation produced in 1853 by John Mason Neale titles the work “Good Christian Men, Rejoice.” This translation is often criticised; Thomas Helmore made a mistake when transcribing the mensural notation of Piae Cantiones which led to the repeated “News, news” and “Joy, joy” phrase. In 1921, H. J. Massé wrote that it was an example of “musical wrong doing ... involving the mutilation of the rhythm of that grand tune In dulci jubilo to the English words Good Christian Men Rejoice. It is inconceivable that anyone of any real musical culture should have lent himself to this tinkering with a perfect tune for the sake of fitting it perforce to works of inferior merit.” He goes on to cite a more appropriate English translation from 1567 by John Wedderburn as a more “worthy effort.” Jeremy Summerly in his radio documentary series A Cause for Caroling is more complimentary, saying that the mistaken repeated note is what makes that version of the tune memorable.

Still another English translation, made in the 19th century by Arthur T. Russell and featured in several Lutheran hymnals, renders the work as “Now Sing We, Now Rejoice.”